Target attracts job-seekers for SF store

RETAIL Chain's 1st S.F. store will open in Metreon

People line up outside the Metreon to apply for jobs at the new CityTarget store that will open at the center.

People line up outside the Metreon to apply for jobs at the new CityTarget store that will open at the center.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

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People line up outside the Metreon to apply for jobs at the new CityTarget store that will open at the center.

People line up outside the Metreon to apply for jobs at the new CityTarget store that will open at the center.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Target attracts job-seekers for SF store

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For a two-hour span Thursday morning, Tay Alvarez battled through the butterflies in her stomach to pass three interviews, a drug test and a multiple-choice test. But by lunchtime, the San Francisco City College sophomore was among the first of 300 hourly employees Target plans to hire for its first store in the city.

On the first of three days of interviews, Alvarez was joined by a few hundred other job seekers lined up in the summer sun, hopeful that they too would be donning Target's signature red tops when the CityTarget opens Oct. 14 at the Metreon center at Fourth and Mission streets.

The new CityTarget is part of the retailer's strategy to make its stores anchors in urban areas the way they have been in suburbs for years. The first CityTarget stores opened two weeks ago in densely populated neighborhoods of Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago. Target has said it hopes the stores will attract tourists and commuters, not just locals.

The arrival of Target in the Westfield-owned property also highlights the growing trend of malls trying to become one-stop destinations that bring people in a few times a week.

Smaller stores

CityTarget stores are two-thirds the size of the standard Target store. Trucks delivering goods to them will be only about half as long as the normal rig. But the stores will still carry a range of groceries, produce, apparel, small furniture and electronics. CityTarget customers will find new things like the use of mannequins, local souvenirs for sale and prices slightly higher than at the normal Target.

Alvarez said she's been searching for a job since March to help pay for school.

"I've had three years' experience in retail in food, in toys, in jewelry," she said. "I think that all helped."

Still, before Thursday, she'd had four interviews for other jobs and made countless fruitless applications. So what clicked with Target? She wasn't sure.

Shannon Rosales, Target's hiring manager for the store, said the retailer looks for "a can-do attitude" more than anything.

Gerald Williams, a single father with a 4-year-old son, was among those queueing up to prove he had that attitude. He said he's growing anxious about securing a job as his savings shrink, and his unemployment benefits are set to expire in March.

"Had I not been making $15 to $25 an hour working at a shipyard, unemployment would not have been enough," he said.

There have been signs that hiring is picking up and layoffs are holding steady nationwide. July was the best month for job growth since February, and the Labor Department said Thursday that 6,000 fewer people had applied for jobless benefits last week than the week before. Still, there are nearly 3.5 people for each open position in the country.

Not everyone looking for a job at CityTarget was without one already.

Normina Norone of El Cerrito said she is a "platinum-level" part-time employee at Home Depot in San Mateo. She earned the status for her prowess in selling Home Depot-branded credit cards and keeping customers at her register happy. She also works part time at another store in San Mateo, but she would rather not commute that far.

Norone walked away confident that her ability to speak both Tagalog and English would help her land a full-time gig at CityTarget.

"I'm aiming to be active in a new environment," she said. "I'm praying and I am hoping I get called back this weekend."

A self-described retail industry veteran, Ernie Tovar wanted to replace his seasonal position for the San Francisco Giants with a full-time managerial post at CityTarget.

"The longevity and the security are appealing," he said. "The store will do well. People are going to be buying more here because they will save money not driving out of the city to shop."

Target is surely banking on that to hold true as the 110-year-old company attempts to continue to beat Walmart in sales growth. Los Angeles receives a second store on Oct. 14 as well, and a third is set to open in March.

Though an opening date is not set, Target has the permit to open a second, slightly larger San Francisco store - and hire another 200 people to staff it - at Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue.

Living in the city

The nation's urban population is expected to increase by about 6 percent as the rural population drops by 2 percent during the next fours years, according to Euromonitor, a consumer research firm.

"Young people are staying in cities longer and some empty-nesters are returning to cities to take advantage of the cultural and dining opportunities," Virginia Lee, a Euromonitor senior research analyst, said in a video blog Thursday.

Lee said big-box retailers, in turn, are willing to pay higher rents and security costs and imagine new formats to reach this growing consumer base.

At the Metreon center, food vendors such as Super Duper Burger, La Boulange and Cako have already opened alongside the AMC theater, National University, Chronicle Books and Massage Envy Spa.

Construction workers were still putting together escalators, painting and hammering away at walls at CityTarget's corner Thursday. CityTarget occupies the entire second floor, while a Starbucks and Target's first speciality store, C9 Active Apparel, sits on part of the first floor.

"We're very excited to finally be here," Rosales said.

Hiring fair

Interviews for jobs at CityTarget continue at the Metreon center from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Visit www.target.com/careersto see positions available. Walk-ins are welcome.